Star Wars: The Machine Crusade
by BaronVladimirHarkonnen
Summary: Palpatine's scheme to unleash a civil war on the decaying Republic is in ashes. The Lord of the Sith and the Jedi are plunged into a tumultuous alliance with each other against the dark schemes of Komari Vosa on her Skull Throne. As Vosa's Droid Army of the Confederacy reaves across the stars, dark schemes are drawn and the Galaxy will never be the same.
1. Points of Divergence

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of the characters of the Prequel series (otherwise the abomination known as Jar Jar Binks would not exist). This is done for fun, not profit.

Over the last decade since the Battle of Naboo there has been an ever-growing discontent in the Republic. Palpatine has accumulated ever-greater powers and among the Jedi there is a schism between Yoda's increasingly less moral methods and those of a sect led by Anakin Skywalker who hold to a more puritan Jedi Code (while Anakin is simultaneously engaged ).

During this time, a dangerous and violent Dark Side user has arisen: Komari Vosa, who has set a fire rolling through the corrupt and inefficient Republic. Her call for the Secession of worlds based on Commerce Rights () has led to the formation of a Confederacy of Independent Systems. Vosa has added in a much more dangerous legacy for the Republic, as well. Her new Confederacy has promised Droids will be treated as sapients equal to any other.

And her new Confederacy is also Openly Dark-Sider, led by the malevolent Bando Gora religion, with allies among the Sorcerers of Tund. Even the Jedi now speak of wishing for Sith allies, in hopes at least that Sith, Tund, and Gora would destroy each other.

A sequence of Separatist hits on Senators associated with Anakin Skywalker has culminated in an attempt on his fiancee. In response the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan ventured to Geonosis, but now Vosa has captured them and also the Young Padme Amidala.

And a new and darker era dawns for the Republic...

_

Darth Sidious quietly grumbled to himself. The debate over the Military Creation Act was being stifled by Jedi fools and apologists for the Republic who did not understand at all how dangerous the new Confederacy was. Listening to Aks Moe ranting at length about how wartime regulations might hurt corruption, Sidious let out a slight sigh.

Then Bail Organa of Alderaan began shouting at Moe, calling him a corrupt lying sonofabitch who'd taken a lot of suspicious donations from people invested in the anti-war cause. Organa saw no good that would come of a Confederacy led by Darksiders. He'd warned that this could lead easily to something as horrible as the New Sith Wars but it was to no avail.

Seated in the pavilion of the Chancellor of the Republic, with Masters Windu and Yoda by his side, Darth Sidious twiddled his thumb as the Senate became increasingly an uproar.

Suddenly a beeping sound appeared on the HoloNet connection of the Senatorial pads. A scarred blond woman cloaked in a very expensive-looking cloak, wielding two lightsabers, was busy torturing Senator Amidala of Naboo, whom had had the annoying Gungan Twit as her shadow-senator.

Everyone, even the two Jedi and the Sith Lord rose to their feet in shock.

Vosa looked at them and in tones of ice over Amidala's screaming and cursing at her said "Send Jedi to rescue Jedi. You send this powerless fool, an agent of the Republic's political leadership, after two potential leaders of your Grand Army of the Republic you debate in your Senate sessions, leading to we in the Confederacy of Independent Systems having reminded you that all we ask is to be let alone.

The cornerstone of our new Confederacy rests on the great truth that the Force-User is the superior of the Flatscan, and that this is so noted that the Flatscan organic life and android AI life should be together equal. As you persist in acts of aggression toward us, dispatching two Jedi and one political leader to bail your troops out, I hereby respond to these aggressions by declaring that as of now, a state of war exists between this vile, corrupt Republic of Mudsills which worships the idea that there is equality of unequals as decreed by the Force itself and the Confederacy of Independent Systems."

Amidala had by this point ceased screaming, curled up in a fetal position, whimpering on the Holoscreen. To the sound of mechanical footsteps, Vosa suddenly made a smile that made many shudder.

"I leave it to General Grievous, Supreme Commander of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems to give one notice to your society of decaying filth even a Dianoga wouldn't touch."

A huge and intimidating form appeared, splitting two arms into four. Alien eyes looked out between droid plating. A voice deeper than that the deepest human could muster spoke in Galactic Basic "Palpatine is Sidious. The Supreme Chancellor of the Republic is a Sith Lord. The Sith Wars are over. They have won. The Wars of the Gora have begun. And the Republic, so long at war with Sith has these last 10 years subsisted on a lie."

And with that the Holonet cut off to a sudden complete silence in the Senate Chamber as all eyes turned to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, flanked by two Jedi Masters...

 **Luis Salcedo LouieSal**

8/19/12

to me

Chapter I, Part I:  
The nature of the One Force differs from that of other attempts past and present to blend the Light and the Dark Sides. Attempts to do that dated all the way to the Sith Lady Kreia in the time of the Sith Wars. In this case, the obvious difference was that there had just been an atrocity, and that the Bando Gora were a threat both to the Order I headed at the time and to the Jedi. We chose what was at first an alliance of convenience. At the time of the First Battle of Geonosis we had not the least idea what the Great Clone War would become.  
-Darth Sidious, Memoirs of the First Galactic Emperor.

Across the Senate chamber, time stood still for a moment. Yet none of the observers noted so much as a twitch from Windu or from Yoda. The only movement was when the lips of the Supreme Chancellor began to speak in a thunderous voice:

"It is indeed true that I am the leader of the Order of the Sith Lords. The Light and Dark War devastated us also. For the last several years I have led the Jedi and the Republic, and have made no gestures to harm either. The only crime that was committed was that of a sect of Dark Siders envious of the power that we Sith have developed in the Dark Side.

The Bando Gora disfigure themselves, and speak in terms of reviving independence of Droids from rule. The armies sent by the Trade Federation to occupy my very homeworld itself were powerful when directed by sapients. If droids are granted rule of themselves they could easily become a fifth column of traitors in our very midst.

Should the corporations assure their "Rights" the result would be an oligarchy of the wealthy, who rule us all with the same iron fists. We have seen the kindness of Trade Federation rule on one planet, Naboo, where several million of our citizens died in the Theed region alone in a few weeks of occupation.

That madwoman whose authority rules this "Confederacy of Independent Systems" has claimed that all the Confederates wish is to be let alone. Yet we see them torturing and mutilating Jedi, who even I must admit have done brave, even impossible things in pursuit of the Republic, and reducing one of the bravest senators of the Republic to a gibbering piece of insanity.

We have just this very day passed a Military Creation Act, and as my first act with this new authority, I announce a Grand Army of the Republic, designed to counter these threats of the Confederacy. I have nothing to offer except blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We shall fight in space, we shall fight in cities, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength against this colossus of corporate greed and utter horror. We shall fight on Geonosis, we shall fight on Aargonar, we shall fight in Dathomir we shall fight to our last breath, whatever the cost may be.

Disputes over the role emotion and the self play over the Force cannot divide we citizens of the Republic. The Jedi and Sith share a history more in common than either of us shall ever admit. We cannot let those mystic chords of memory lose their significance, yet in the spirit of the ancestral Jedi and Republican armies and also those of my predecessors, we must stand against this infamous and treacherous act of the Confederacy.

Citizens of the Republic, in answer to this act of brute force, bad faith, injustice, and malice on the part of the treasonous inhabitants of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, I will dispatch a group of Jedi under members of the Council Depa Billaba, Adi Gallia, and Yarael Poof with the first trained detachments of our Grand Army of the Republic to the world of Geonosis, that we may confront these traitors, and deal to the forces of treason a death blow from which they may never recover!".

And with the sudden finish of Palpatine's speech, Darth Sidious noted that Masters Yoda and Windu rose by him and shouted "For the Republic and victory!".

And at the order of the Chancellor 200 million GAR soldiers under command of three members of the Jedi Council began their journey to the world of Geonosis. The shroud of war had fallen on the Republic, and neither the clones impassive behind their masks nor the forces of the Droid Army under command of the first Sectorial General of the Confederacy, the bounty hunter/mercenary Durge had any idea what lay in store for them...


	2. The War Begins

Chapter I, Part I:  
 _The nature of the One Force differs from that of other attempts past and present to blend the Light and the Dark Sides. Attempts to do that dated all the way to the Sith Lady Kreia in the time of the Sith Wars. In this case, the obvious difference was that there had just been an atrocity, and that the Bando Gora were a threat both to the Order I headed at the time and to the Jedi. We chose what was at first an alliance of convenience. At the time of the First Battle of Geonosis we had not the least idea what the Great Clone War would become._  
-Darth Sidious, Memoirs of the First Galactic Emperor.

Across the Senate chamber, time stood still for a moment. Yet none of the observers noted so much as a twitch from Windu or from Yoda. The only movement was when the lips of the Supreme Chancellor began to speak in a thunderous voice:

"It is indeed true that I am the leader of the Order of the Sith Lords. The Light and Dark War devastated us also. For the last several years I have led the Jedi and the Republic, and have made no gestures to harm either. The only crime that was committed was that of a sect of Dark Siders envious of the power that we Sith have developed in the Dark Side.

The Bando Gora disfigure themselves, and speak in terms of reviving independence of Droids from rule. The armies sent by the Trade Federation to occupy my very homeworld itself were powerful when directed by sapients. If droids are granted rule of themselves they could easily become a fifth column of traitors in our very midst.

Should the corporations assure their "Rights" the result would be an oligarchy of the wealthy, who rule us all with the same iron fists. We have seen the kindness of Trade Federation rule on one planet, Naboo, where several million of our citizens died in the Theed region alone in a few weeks of occupation.

That madwoman whose authority rules this "Confederacy of Independent Systems" has claimed that all the Confederates wish is to be let alone. Yet we see them torturing and mutilating Jedi, who even I must admit have done brave, even impossible things in pursuit of the Republic, and reducing one of the bravest senators of the Republic to a gibbering piece of insanity.

We have just this very day passed a Military Creation Act, and as my first act with this new authority, I announce a Grand Army of the Republic, designed to counter these threats of the Confederacy. I have nothing to offer except blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We shall fight in space, we shall fight in cities, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength against this colossus of corporate greed and utter horror. We shall fight on Geonosis, we shall fight on Aargonar, we shall fight in Dathomir we shall fight to our last breath, whatever the cost may be.

Disputes over the role emotion and the self play over the Force cannot divide we citizens of the Republic. The Jedi and Sith share a history more in common than either of us shall ever admit. We cannot let those mystic chords of memory lose their significance, yet in the spirit of the ancestral Jedi and Republican armies and also those of my predecessors, we must stand against this infamous and treacherous act of the Confederacy.

Citizens of the Republic, in answer to this act of brute force, bad faith, injustice, and malice on the part of the treasonous inhabitants of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, I will dispatch a group of Jedi under members of the Council Depa Billaba, Adi Gallia, and Yarael Poof with the first trained detachments of our Grand Army of the Republic to the world of Geonosis, that we may confront these traitors, and deal to the forces of treason a death blow from which they may never recover!".

And with the sudden finish of Palpatine's speech, Darth Sidious noted that Masters Yoda and Windu rose by him and shouted "For the Republic and victory!".

And at the order of the Chancellor 200 million GAR soldiers under command of three members of the Jedi Council began their journey to the world of Geonosis. The shroud of war had fallen on the Republic, and neither the clones impassive behind their masks nor the forces of the Droid Army under command of the first Sectorial General of the Confederacy, the bounty hunter/mercenary Durge had any idea what lay in store for them...

Part II:  
 _It must be noted at the time of the Battle of Geonosis that both sides were expecting a short war. We did not believe that a corporate oligarchy would either afford or maintain a long one. We also did not understand that Vosa's actions had changed war dramatically from the last large Darkside War. For the Confederacy's part it underestimated the role religion played in the war on our side..._  
-Darth Sidious, _Memoirs of the First Galactic Emperor_

The Grand Army of the Republic had arrived over the world of Geonosis. This first detachment included the largest gunship class then-available for use by the Republic. These began to engage the first trifighters, as the Republic's army headed for the planet surface. Geonosis, the Jedi had briefed the clones, was a harsh and barren world where the native lifeforms concentrated extremely densely in hives.

One of the most prominent hives on a level plain was where the Separatist leadership was meeting. The objective was to head down, destroy the Separatist leadership, and rescue the Jedi and Senator. With these objectives duly noted the Grand Army of the Republic dispatched its Ground Assault Force toward the planet's surface.

On that planet's surface, the half-droid general, Grievous, snarled. He turned to Vosa and said "They have sent too much too fast. We must make a strategic withdrawal to our capital world of Korriban and there prepare to launch our first offensive. Shall I kill the Jedi and the Senator?".

In response to Grievous' statement, Vosa cocked her head in thought, briefly turning it up as if she was trying to bite her ear off. After a few minutes' pause she said "No, let them be saved. It is agreed that we shall achieve this withdrawal and that we shall join the Council on Korriban."

And with this noted the the two turned to the broader battle itself, as the signal was sent for the Droid army to begin its withdrawal.

By the other Hives where the Grand Army of the Republic had not gotten anywhere near entire intact army groups were beginning to take off into orbital space, there for some of their hyperspace-worthy ships to take them, or alternately to get into the large Trade Federation Troop transports.

Near the Central Hive, Vosa smiled as she left the two Jedi and the Senator, all of them unconscious and having been given enough Force lightning to handicap them for at least a year, heading to her flagship, The Iron Dream.

For the Clone Troopers this first battle was more than any of their training had prepared them for. The droids were fighting hard and were coming at them in ways no organic army could have done, without need for much of a pause. The clone troopers turned to their artillery to try to halt these attackers and maser energy struck out, tearing through entire Droid Army lines with the image of a glowing scythe.

In response the wheelfire missile droids from the InterGalactic Banking Clan hurled entire volleys of cluster-bomb missiles, which led the GAR to decide on a new tactic. By this point the Jedi had succeeded in forcing away the Separatist Navy in the space battle, and so were radioing to the clones, who in turn requested two orbital strikes on the strategic reserve of the clone force.

The bright energy of turbolasers hurled down through the Geonosian atmosphere, and in the resulting explosion and shockwave the Droid Army was halved in terms of its sheer numbers. Noting one of the Clones who had sent the message, a particular B-2 Battle Droid suddenly turned and started firing directly at him.

The clone felt darkness closing in on him and the B-2 Droid began to radio to its comrades to attack any and all visible Republic Communication Centers. In response the Republic began to fire a sustained volley of blaster rifles, which kept the Confederacy's forces fighting this rearguard action from making the best of it.

Aware their purpose was to buy time for as much of the Droid Army to withdraw as possible, the Droid Army itself chose to fall back on the battlefield into the crater created by the orbital strike. The GAR began to advance, now with its Jedi Generals in command of it.

But then the Droid Army revealed the purpose of the withdrawal: it had achieved a perfect cover and began to fire on the GAR. The Jedi managed to deflect some of the blaster bolts, but as the GAR's full ground assault force headed toward the crater, Gallia shouted to Poof that perhaps a second orbital strike would do.

Poof refused, stating use of the weapon the first time was a stain on the Jedi Order. Thus the GAR proceeded on its attack, though the casualties among the clones began to mount.

The Droids then revealed once the Jedi were in range that Vosa had chosen to start reviving some rather older weapons. Booming began to echo, as opposed to the crackling sound and ozone smell produced by the laser tanks. A screeching began and shells began falling among the clones, who began to be mowed down by the ruthless progression of the canister rounds of the Droid Army's artillery.

Poof then said to Gallia "OK, you win." And with that Depa Billaba sent the second strike that ended up destroying the Droid Army detachments near the Central Hive.

But when the GAR had begun to search the hives throughout Geonosis there was no trace of the Droid Army. It was only then that Gallia, Poof, and Billaba had realized what the Confederacy's intentions were.

It was a joke among the Clone Troopers for days that not only did the acronyms SNAFU and FUBAR come into being as GAR trooper rhetoric, but the looks on the faces of all the Jedi followed by the facepalming became a memetic mutation.

The Jedi and the Senator returned to Coruscant, where the Supreme Chancellor greeted them along with Masters Yoda and Windu: "It is a pleasure to see you again, Jedi Councilmen. I have unfortunate news...

A week ago the Confederacy began to embark on a large offensive into the Halla Sector. They have managed to land on every single world at once. I am afraid my friends that this war is far from over.

I am afraid also I have no idea how much chance of victory we truly have."

_

Part III:  
 _I often wondered what Master Yoda must have thought in those early days of the war. So many good friends of his were already dying. The Lost 20 seemed a nostalgic memory. It must be said, however, that birth is always painful, and like all things of the past, the rise of the One Force is one thing that none can truly attribute to any one thing. Yet it can be said that the name Galidraan will forever haunt the One Force as the shatterpoint of all things._  
-Lord Rorqual, _On the Rise of the One Force_.

In the hallowed halls of the Jedi Council the mood was somber. The victory at Geonosis had been dearly bought. 200 million troops had struck, but only 170 million had returned, as the Droid Army had chosen to fight until the very last droids were fully obliterated, and they were such determined fighters that the battle had lasted a week's time.

The news of the vast Confederate offensive all across the Halla Sector had also darkened the mood of the Council. It was known now that Palpatine had been a Sith Lord, but there was nothing in his behavior to attribute to him a desire to overthrow the Republic. He seemed sickened by everything, older. So did the Council member who spoke:

"I do wonder how our old friend Count Dooku would have seen this?".

The members of the Council shifted uneasily. Ki-Adi-Mundi continued: "According to his old Padawan he'd died an honorable death defeating the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus on Galidraan, having returned there to look for her upon leaving the Jedi Order. Vosa is a madwoman, and I cannot think of a political idealist like Dooku approving of what she's done with this Confederacy.

Nor can I imagine the Jedi Master of Qui-Gon turning to evil."

Master Yoda remained shrouded in thought.

"A thought, I have," he spoke.

"Dooku, Count of Serenno, he was. Formed this Confederacy from his own funds, he could have."

Ki-Adi Mundi sighed. "I cannot see a political idealist like him embracing a Droid Army. Nor capturing and torturing Jedi. Vosa claims herself as Supreme Commander. I could never see Dooku doing something so terrible as this."

Master Windu spoke in turn "To think of the past and might-have-beens is a foolish, distracting endeavor. Vosa wished this when she renamed the old Sith World Dooku instead of Korriban. We must not let this get in our way.

Now, I believe the intention is to dispatch Jedi forces along this route, with GAR detachments, each of 200 Units like on Geonosis. The Confederacy has just consolidated this, and certainly will not expect us to retaliate immediately to that wide an offensive.

I agree with you, though, on a final note: Dooku was a good friend of mine. It would be impossible for the shroud of the Dark Side to come from him. A pity he did not survive to tell us who Darth Tyranus was..."


	3. The Great Clone War: Opening Shots

Chapter II:  
 _There is always a danger in the first battles of a long war. Neither side knows what they may find in the enemy, neither side has the ability to prepare for said enemy's wrath should they encounter it. It was expected the Confederacy would fold upon our offensives. In truth we did not realize war had changed irrevocably._  
-Darth Sidious, _Memoirs of the First Galactic Emperor_.

The Confederacy had just consolidated its hold on the planet Charros IV. The new occupying authorities had begun their first speeches announcing restrictions on the civilian authorities when out of hyperspace appeared an army group of the Grand Army of the Republic. Droid Tri-Fighters launched in space to engage the GAR but instead found themselves being drawn off course by suicide tactics by the clones and being destroyed.

Within the Confederate base, General Sev'rance Tann had noted with displeasure the Republic's ability again to strike rapidly and without warning. She issued a hold in place order as the GAR began to descend. She also, in a sudden thought ordered use of Surface-to-air missiles, one of Vosa's ideas that had been adopted by the actual combat groups. Several descending gunships were suddenly destroyed by the missiles, the resulting explosions ringing out over the plateaus. A larger Republic Gunship then descended and started targeting the bases, plastering the area with turbolaser fire. The area around it became steadily burned of life, or so it seemed.

When the ship withdrew the GAR troop-ships descended again and the same SAMs fired and took out still more of them. Jedi Master Sora Bulq, observing this was forced with a decision. His face darkened and he said "Land in full, disregard casualties. They will not be able to kill all of us."

The GAR began to disembark on the mass scale, and the SAMs were indeed overwhelmed by the sheer number of targets. Then a wave of droidekas and hailfire tanks formed a line of battle against the first GAR detachment to face them. The 301st Brigade decided to retreat and seek cover, from which they began a stead sequence of firing blaster rifles, taking down a few of the tanks and praying as the missile pads sent dozens of missiles against the few of them that things would become a lot simpler in a hurry.

The arrival of Jedi General Bulq indeed held promise, as his lightsaber began to shine and he used Force Disable to take out key droids at key points, enabling the GAR to assume a slightly better position.

...

Then once more the Confederacy attacked with a force equivalent to that which had bottled up the GAR detachments that had landed. Bulq sent in for fire support and the gunships launched their heavy turbolasers against the Droid Infantry, serving to scatter it as more GAR troops began to land unopposed on parts of the front.

The Droid Army now chose to respond by the first use of a tactic that one of the Tactical Droids had chosen. Hunter-seeker droids combined with hailfire tanks, Orbital missile platforms, droidekas, and B-2 Battle droids were to launch a simultaneous counterattack against the Republic's troops, who as yet had no equivalent large armored vehicles that could help them.

General Tann watched with surprise as this particular tactical droid's accumulated force began to move against Bulq's invasion force. There was something about this particular droid she sensed through the Force perhaps might become significant. In any case, she reflected, the Jedi had no idea what was coming for him...

Part II:  
 _One question that was often asked about the First Battle of Charros IV was why none of the Jedi at the time emphasized Bulq's means of securing the victory. It must be said with an unfortunate sadness that the war had triggered a puritanical segment of the Jedi that felt that through immersing themselves in the force the firepower superiority of the early days could be overcome. Bulq showing that a knowledge of tactics did not weaken that was to them an inconvenient truth._  
-Lord Rorqual, _On the Rise of the One Force_.

The clones, having been engaged in the struggle already for a few hours suddenly heard their general shout "Take cover damn you, they're changing tactics on us!". Listening to the tones in Bulq's voice, many of the clones jumped behind rubble, securing themselves cover against what was coming.

One of them, a Clone Commander, looked up and said "Oh my God" at a huge advancing force combining tanks, hunter-seekers, and a shitload of infantry. Bulq sent a signal to a communications droid that beeped to acknowledge the transmission had been heard.

The AT-TEs of the Republic had been gathered in a large hangar together and at the command of the droid, the clones stared at each other for a second. "So he wants us to form a giant column? I thought our orders were to support the infantry?"

The other clone said "Well, I suppose there's a right way, a wrong way, and the Grand Army Way." Thus they moved toward the battlefield as fast as was possible from their disembarkation point.

The AT-TEs arrived as the combined-arms force was finding itself bogged down in the wreckage of the blown-up troopships. The Hailfire tanks were being overwhelmed by Republic artillery, while the Republic's own fighters were proving superior to the Hunter-Seekers, able to use the third dimension of the air to blast the H-S without their being able to retaliate in kind.

The large AT-TE force began to send great firepower among the ranks of the droid infantry, which began to falter, and then to retreat.

General Tann was displeased as the very newness of this conquest meant that there had not been time to build a sufficient defense. Bulq's attack was pressing too close to her headquarters, and with the modesty typical of every Darksider she figured the Bando Gora would miss her loss more than a single planet. Having hailed her counterpart on Bimmsari, she was not surprised to find that General Grievous had already sent an evacuation force.

What she was surprised was the good humor the general was in. Asking she learned that Grievous had noted that the GAR had been forced to reveal that the AT-TEs could in fact form a large armored column, which meant that the Separatists would be able to make use of their new minefields on Bimmsari quite effectively. To Grievous's base "Good Work, General Tann" she and the Droid Army executed another withdrawal.

It would be the only swift Republican victory of the first nine months of the war...


	4. What Might Have Been

Chapter III:  
The rise of the One Force was not easy for either the former Jedi or the former Sith Orders. We had formed the alliance for what we were hoping would be a short war. I was then the only Sith Lord among those many Jedi not all of whom were concerned about the war so much as preserving the sanctity of the Order.  
-Darth Sidious, Memoirs of the First Galactic Emperor.

Every so often Mace Windu grumbled to himself about his ability to have the Shatterpoint. While they remained strong around Master Kenobi, Skywalker, and the Senator, there was as yet no understanding of why. Windu had accepted with bared, gritted teeth the alliance with Darth Sidious, but had come to see some sense in an alliance during wartime with a Sith who like him could sense what mattered.

Both he and the Dark Lord of the Sith were fuming about the results of the first battles of the war. Within his hood the unlined face of Darth Sidious, which seemed preternaturally young, said "I find it hard to believe that they truly suffered the lack of nerve Sector Commander Fay said they did. They are mounting withdrawals that keep the core of their armies intact and we take casualties that are far too many due to the inexperience, I should hope of our commanders.

We do not have quintillions of droids that are expendable, we are dependent on much less bloody tactics. But we keep attack headlong. My predecessors never had to deal with this."

Windu frowned. He said "You are right, Supreme Chancellor, in that they withdraw too fast. I do not see that the Bimmsari will be a simple act at all. I shall discuss this with the Sector General and see why she thinks this. You must understand that Master Fay undertook this only reluctantly and even sees droids as lifeforms."

Palpatine muttered to himself "I am not so sure it is wise for us not to. At Geonosis and at Charros IV there were individual droids who threw at us things we countered at the very most basic level and had they put enough against us we might still be fighting on Charros IV."

As the High Jedi Master and the Dark Lord of the Sith remained in their conversation, a young Jedi Master named A'Sharad Hett remained involved in a discussion Jedi Master Coleman Trebor and Agen Kolar about the necessity to kill the Sith.

The fear was that his war would end up even if victorious a defeat for the Jedi, where the droid army could easily be destroyed should the Jedi be willing to assume the Ruusan-era institutions. The three Jedi had hastily gathered by the Chancellor's office, figuring that if they presented the Order with a Fait Accompli that they would face judgment after it.

Opening the door to it, they entered, drawing their lightsabers to their hand. Windu and Palpatine remained engrossed in the discussion, but Kolar, Trebor, and Hett remained hesitant. Windu then looked at them "What brings you here, Masters?"

"Step aside, Master Windu, we must do this for the Order."

Palpatine simply said "I had warned you this might happen."

Windu just looked at them and said "The Shatterpoints cannot be slain."

And with that the Supreme Chancellor, before any of them could react drew to his hand a blade of scarlet that moved faster than their force-reactions let them react. Kolar was slain by a blade through the skull, while Trebor and Hett formed a two against one battle for a time.

Yet Sidious grew ever stronger during the fight where they were increasingly unable to counter him, spending strength to ward off the Sith Lightning he hurled at them. Windu, in meditation for a couple of minutes that seemed an eternity then called his own lightsaber to him and a purple blade moved against Hett's two green blades in conjunction with the swiftness of the Sith Lord.

Against Vaapad and the Sith Lord's surprisingly able skills Hett found himself overwhelmed by joint decapitating and dismembering strikes that left his body there.

Windu looked at Palpatine, who simply said "It's wartime. We will simply blame this on Vosa. People were fearing Hett might one day become a Sith as it is, so I do not think people would believe a Jedi Coup against the thesis of their becoming Gora."

Windu's eyebrow rose. "Why do you not have me executed as I am the only witness?".

Palpatine laughed wryly and said "One Sith against the entire Jedi Order in the middle of the largest war in Galactic history? Be a madman if I did."


	5. The Great Clone War: Fires of Bimmsari

Chapter IV:  
 _It should be noted before Bimmsaari so many of us in the Jedi Order That Was felt that we could have a short war and an amicable peace. When the Battle of Bimmsaari happened we came to realize that this would be a true war. It is not a comforting thought to realize how naive the leaders of the Empire were then._  
-Lord Rorqual, _On the Founding of the One Force_.

Jedi General Bultar Swan tensed. For this would be the first Republic invasion of a Confederate world. Previously the Confederates had been the ones who had launched offensives. They had shown an ability to strike rapidly and brutally. For the entire first few weeks of the war a massed droid labor force had created what was a seemingly impenetrable set of defenses.

The space debris shield had indeed held off the Republic for the last week, as the Republic had been required to unleash proton torpedoes and thereby weaken its ability to Base Delta Zero enemies. When Supreme Chancellor Kalpana had brought in the Base Delta Zero code people had then protested both this and the attempt to re-arm the Republic. Now with it actually plunged into a war that had already lasted weeks Swan was hoping that the Republic would not have to use this kind of weaponry again. The Force was mother, the Force was father, it would protect her.

Besides the Republic had right on its side, even with a Sith as its leader. The GAR had managed to get through enough of the debris shield to land. As they began to enter the atmosphere the Separatists unveiled an unpleasant surprise. A large barrage of Surface-to-air missiles had begun to squeeze the small portion of the Republic landing force that had managed to start filing through.

Swan cursed silently as the ships began to back up onto each other, killing some clones before the battle had even begun. On a plain surrounded by relatively small mountains she managed to oversee the landing of about 40 million clones the clones having infantry, AT-TEs, speeder troopers, mechanized infantry, and clone fighters engaging Confederate hunter-seekers.

As it appeared even the Sith recognized the superiority of the Jedi Order, and that the Separatists were just a house of cards for all Vosa's evil there was surely nothing unpleasant. The Droid Army chose that moment to unleash a gigantic barrage of laser artillery and blaster fire.

Enjoying her ability to deflect this fire, Swan began to lead a looser organization of clone infantry, with a column of AT-TEs against the droids. The battle had begun and it was so loud and so many things were firing at Swan, trying to kill her that she never heard one particular howitzer among many until she suddenly looked up, hearing a sound and her reactions moved but were not fast enough to halt anything and the last thing Swan heard was a screaming that seemed distant.

As life faded and she went into the Force she realized the screaming had been her. With the Clones hesitant at the sudden and easy slaying of their general, who had led them almost a half-mile against heavy fire the Droids suddenly began to unleash wave after wave of missile platforms and a column of spider-droids began to attack the AT-TEs. One blew up with a resounding and crackling explosion with a faint smell of ozone.

More GAR troops arrived, these under the command of Jedi Master Keltryn Jade, who just hoped the war would end soon so that he could return to his wife. A pity he was the only Correllian Jedi who'd chosen thus far to participate with the larger order, he reflected as his troops landed 100 miles away.

Having sensed Swan had died from leading from the Front, Jade reflected with a shake of his ginger hair that perhaps it would be wiser if he co-ordinated this by Battle Meditation. Not for him to go die and neglect his great strength. As he began it, the 493rd Legion of the Grand Army of the Republic, under battle meditation began to use the kind of tactics the Confederate military had shown was possible on Charros IV against them.

Master Jade, however, sensed through his battle Meditation that he had to direct also the 224th Legion. With 80 million clones against 8 billion droid forces and realizing also that he had to attack an enemy 100 times his superior in numbers and against the Force-Sensitive General Durge, who *hated* clones, Jade couldn't shake a slight, awful bad feeling about Sector General Marek's idea of the Cult of the Offensive.

Chapter IV, Part II:  
 _The Battle of Bimmsaari forced our Republic to realize we'd misjudged the Confederates. They were not going to yield in a single decisive battle. It was then also that we came to make one of the key mistakes of the early phase of the war that cost us dearly indeed._  
Lord Rorqual, _Rise of the One Force_

The first thing Senator Amidala experienced when she woke up what was what seemed the hangover from Hell. The headache made her vision blurry, but the link to the Holonet in her room referred to "the Sith Chancellor and the Jedi Council have made a joint appearance before the Senate today-" Amidala's eyes widened. The blurriness slowly faded. "Sith? How the hell?". She heard a slight clanking sound and saw C-3P0 hesitantly entering the room "Dreadfully sorry, your majesty, I shall go now," rang C-3P0's Corellian accent but instead Amidala said "Threepio, stay for a minute, please."

The Droid turned back. "What are they talking about, the Chancellor being a Sith Lord? What happened to Vosa?".

Threepio hemmed and hawed and then told of the first month and a half of the new Clone War. And that Anakin and Obi-Wan had not yet woken up. Amidala sunk back on her hospital bed, shuddering and holding the sheets to her. Perhaps, she thought, I should have stayed in the coma longer. Oh, Ani, this is not going to be easy...

_

On Bimmsaari the battle expected to be immediately decisive had become a daily slog. During the day the clones would attack and gain a couple of miles, during the evening the Droid Army counterattacked and regained everything. The battle was a daily confrontation of plasma artillery and droid and clone snipers fired blaster bolts repeatedly.

General Marek reflected to his chagrin that several great Jedi who had been quite learned in Jedi Dogma, moreso than he had, had been taken out by what he expected was some new Separatist weapon. His battle meditation was enabling his part of the line to hold, and to make glacial but consistent progress. He had retaliated for the murder of General Swan by honing on his Bando Gora general counterpart and having targeted an artillery strike that had killed the Gora cultist.

The Front was a steady and consistent roar of fire and it hovered near Kento Marek's mind and Meditation regularly. The rate of fire suddenly picked up to a great extent again, and using his meditation he knew that it had become nighttime again, as over the endless battle night and day blurred together into an endless carnival of blood and gears. He directed his troops to begin instant firing of their heavy artillery and felt a slight satisfaction at it having nipped the Separatist offensive in the bud.

Marek could have himself almost sworn that the Siege of Bimmsaari was taking the Confederate leadership by as much surprise as it had taken his own. Then above he saw more starships arriving. Reinforcements, he sighed in peace to himself, as his troops then began to move through the trench lines in the looser formation that let them move through the hail of Droid Firepower and in at least their sector bend the Droid Army into a salient.

Jedi General Ur-Sema Du felt confident as her new GAR detachments arrived. The Republic had right on its side, and the Force was with it. The idea that firepower could suppress an offensive launched with true spirit and discipline was absurd. Even Battle Meditation would not be required. All life of blood, after all, was superior to life of iron...

Part III:  
 _The Siege of Bimmsaari forced changes in the war because it opened us to tactics we did not realize, most histories read. In truth this is so. It opened us also to how blind we were, and ready to buy into deceptions in the fog of war._  
-Lord Jet, _Memoirs of the Great Clone War_.

Amidala had slowly adjusted to the Republic as it had become. Society was much grimmer these days. The Republic had won several victories but on Bimmsaari some Jedi Generals, among them a man named Marek, had lived. Others periodically died and were disintegrated. The Confederacy's propaganda had begun to claim there was a new and terrible weapon, one Jedi could not counter. Amidala still had a hard time swallowing that the Jedi were going so well with a Sith as the Chancellor. There must be some trick, she reflected.

Vosa had been terrifying but the war had gone from nightmare to nightmare, without cease. A few Jedi had been mangled by shrapnel, but not enough to die on Geonosis. They remained in the temple healed, and some convalesced in the most elite sections of Coruscant. Seeing the damaged flesh Amidala shuddered. She knew also that Anakin and Obi-Wan were improving and soon to wake up. She had a bad feeling they would not take well to what had happened.

_

Kento Marek was directing yet another offensive on this desolate world, becoming ever more desolate under the guns of the Droid Army. The Droids were inferior as individuals, he reflected. They were never merely individuals, they were always in groups of hundreds or thousands. Every offensive the Clones were able to slay droids, especially under Battle Meditation as they were now. But droids replaced the slain and the line after every attack was as solid as it had been before it. And then the Droids surged, were cut down, and surged again.

Despite their conditioning the Clones were slowly wearing down under the ceaseless strain and despite the seemingly easy victories forever dying, for no ultimate gain. Marek himself was able to co-ordinate the strikes, but over time both the Clones and he were more hesitant to attack. There seemed no point to endless attacks into superior firepower.

Marek had noticed that on Geonosis the Droid Army had formed together a gigantic combined-arms attack and was curious if the GAR could do the same. The new AT-HEs were being developed, and as he directed AT-TEs against spider droids and watched the clones fending off yet another huge droid wave attack, he wondered if the reason that Jedi were being blown to bits was if the CIS was trying something stupid like using projectile weaponry.

The thought formed but Marek dismissed it. In the middle of a siege, using archaic weaponry, if that was indeed their idea, would only serve to help him. The AT-TEs destroyed another set of Spider-Tanks and marched further against Droid lines, as the Droids themselves countered with a wave of Hellfire missiles that slammed into the AT-TEs, blowing one up and slowing another down.

Then a wave of missiles and lasers began to strike from above. Marek's focus suddenly froze for a moment. The CIS had adopted atmospheric Tri-Fighters. Well, bantha fodder, he thought. Now I have to think harder...

Part IV:  
 _It became clear once the Steel Rain began that we were no longer playing by the laws of war that had marked things like the Great Sith War. It sent a sign to Vosa that it was time to play for keeps. Our own leaders saw it at the time as mere desperation. It was not desperation, it was a logical decision. Unfortunately the Confederacy's leaders were at the time not yet the self-destructive force of later and were keen to exploit for all it was worth._  
-Lord Rorqual, _Why the Empire Won the Great Clone War_.

The Siege of Bimmsaari had now reached into five months and counting. Kento Marek had noticed the Clones were wearing down and becoming mutinous, where the Bando Gora general, whom he had managed to finally ensure died at the hands of a targeted blaster rifle, had been replaced by a new Tactical Droid World Commander, who chose the unmodest name of Xim.

General Xim had exploited his forces well and unfortunately for the Republic there was no means for them to secure a punch into the Droid Army's lines that it was not able to seal, even as the casualties by this point meant every death for the Republic was a defeat. This being a battle deaths happened every day. Or so it seemed.

General Marek had in discussions with the Supreme Chancellor and the Jedi High Council gained approval for a move that was marked by desperation. There had been no means to counter this and fortunately for them two well-trained Droid Tactical Commanders who had over the course of the Siege nearly torn the Republic's line apart had been mysteriously withdrawn. They had chosen odd names, one calling himself Cronus, the other Hyperion.

Having considered it a sign that Vosa perhaps was weakening the GAR had approved a large-scale attack after a two-week bombardment. Instead the Droid Army simply counterattacked in force, having simply hidden from the bombardment and wrecked the entire counteroffensive, though the fire targeted by Clone artillery officers meant there was no means for them to make good anything beyond a defeat on the battlefield.

When the last detachments entered the troopships, General Marek turned to the leaders of the Bombardment Starships, created at his request to help with the Siege. He gave the order "Base Delta Zero. Leave not a droid alive." The Droids, having left their lines and celebrated what seemed to be General Xim's victory were suddenly targeted in a massive, widespread BDZ that began over the course of two days to virtually sterilize the surface of Bimmsaari. This first, tenuous victory for the Republic had been won.

Upon their arrival back in Coruscant for well-gained relief, the Republic learned from Nal Hutta that the Confederate strike into Hutt Space had finally begun. The Droid Generals Hyperion and Cronus had gathered over the five months of the Bimmsaari Siege a strike force numbering 3 trillion infantry, and a much-improved version of the Trifighter and the Hailfire tank.

In the haze of the bittersweet victory in Confederate space the Republic's leaders at first decided it would be a relatively simple matter for Hutts, without the scruples the Republic had so painstakingly to live by, to defeat the CIS invasion. Perhaps it might even serve to quiet the emergence of a Jedi Puritanical faction calling itself the Neo-Revanchists. After all, reflected Darth Sidious deep in meditation in his study, it is no good to me now for the Jedi Order to go dark. The Republic would not survive. If Tyranus had not been slain...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a hospital room two Jedi Knights finally awoke, their vision clouded by the aftereffects of the comas and the bacta tanks. "What is it, Padme?" Anakin asked her in worry. He then caught a glimpse of the Holo-screen where Palpatine, in full Sith Garb was giving a lecture to Jedi Knights on the need to counter Gora Treachery and insanity with the tradition of the True Force Users like the Sith and the Jedi.

Anakin stared dumb. "How the Hell did I miss he was a Sith? What's going on? Has there been a coup? Please tell me the Jedi Temple and the Younglings are still here!". Padme squeezed his hand, gently, before saying "A lot has changed..." and she began to fill in a Jedi Master, who had himself been following with an increasing shudder and his Jedi Padawan who had a feeling that something had gone horribly wrong.

He remembered a poem his mother had once read. What was it, oh, yes...

 _For want of a Bantha Nail..._


End file.
